Chapter 24: Privacy Protection Services

In the corner of the café, Shi Ningyu felt a shadow fall before her. Only then did she lift her gaze from her phone to look at the woman who had sat down across from her. "Could you try to make a little noise when you walk? And you’re even wearing leather shoes."

The woman opposite was the same one she had met at the library last week.

She was still wearing a sophisticated suit, but this time she wore no glasses and had discarded her skirt suit. The hair that had once been pulled into a bun was now undone, falling to her shoulders in a layered wolf cut, giving her previously crisp, professional image a touch of coldness.

She didn't react to Shi Ningyu’s comment, instead pulling a file from her bag, spinning it on the table, and sliding it across.

Shi Ningyu pressed her hand on the file, but her eyes remained fixed on the woman’s hair. "Changed your style?"

"A wig."

"Well, at least stop wearing your suit then. Is it some kind of persona you can't break?"

The woman cast a cold, sidelong glance at Shi Ningyu's twin tails, her thin lips, curved upward at the corners, making it look as though she were smiling. Shi Ningyu rolled her eyes at her and lowered her head to read the investigation results.

The file contained information on Fu Lan—the schools he had attended from childhood to adulthood, the jobs he had held after graduation, and his home addresses for every period of his life. Almost everything had been meticulously uncovered.

Shi Ningyu glanced at it briefly before flipping past the first two pages, which read like a background check. However, the third page did not contain the results she was looking for.

"Is there something you can't find?"

"Either he lied to you and he doesn't know magic at all, or he hid this part of his history. I lean toward the former. Even if he were self-taught without any guidance, it’s impossible to have done so without leaving a trace."

Lied to her? Shi Ningyu frowned, recalling the uninvited tutor. He could produce crystal-grade magic embers and craft his own cat-boxes and various magic arrays—all feats of strength far beyond his peers—but she had indeed never witnessed the actual process of him creating them.

Furthermore, he always avoided using magic in front of her, which had always struck her as suspicious.

If the magic embers and arrays were all prepared in advance, it seemed to make sense. No wonder she couldn't reverse-engineer his formula based on the dosage of his potions; the initial refining process simply didn't follow logic...

But what was the motive?

Was he using her to refine magic embers because he couldn't cast spells himself?

If that were the case, where did he get that crystal-grade ember? And who provided those magic arrays?

If someone was pulling the strings behind Fu Lan, what could they possibly gain? If they were capable of making such powerful magical artifacts, why cooperate with her?

Was there something that had to be done through her hands?

Shi Ningyu voiced her confusion, asking the woman: "What do you think?"

"Anything further would cost extra."

"Tch." Shi Ningyu crossed her legs and glared at her with dissatisfaction. "Then give me an assessment of his credibility. That should count as part of this task."

"I do not recommend continuing the partnership."

The sensation of the crystal-grade magic ember flashed through Shi Ningyu’s mind. She weighed it silently and decided that she should secure the formula first.

Seeing her hesitation, the woman continued, "There is one more suspicious point. His vigilance is very high; I never had the chance to get close. Yet his defenses regarding his personal information are very weak. I encountered almost no obstacles in that regard."

"What do you mean?"

"It means the authenticity of these results is questionable."

"Then didn't I waste my money? Give me a refund!"

"I haven't fully dismissed it. All the listed information can be traced and cross-referenced, but I have a feeling that beneath these seemingly credible facts, a much larger secret is hidden."

Shi Ningyu pondered the file for a long time before saying, "Understood. I’ll consider it. What about Old Tian?"

"He’s investigating him, just as expected. The forged information you requested is at the back. Unless someone already knew him personally, this is the only version they will find."

Shi Ningyu flipped to the last page. Aside from the surname and the ID photo, none of the other details had anything to do with the real Fu Lan, yet they appeared perfectly reasonable.

In addition, they had fabricated a common backstory about him learning magic in secret, with his motivation for entering the magic ember business being a heart condition that required money for surgery.

"Quite convincing," she thought to herself.

Wait, something was wrong.

Shi Ningyu flipped back to the second page, confirming that she had indeed seen a few words when she had scanned it earlier.

"Dilated cardiomyopathy?" she read aloud, involuntarily.

"Since you didn't mention it a moment ago, I assumed you already knew."

She coughed awkwardly. She had been too focused on finding magic-related information to pay close attention to the first two pages. After a moment, she deflected, asking, "Shouldn't this be handled?"

"Anyone investigating him will eventually find out, and it makes the other information more credible."

Shi Ningyu nodded after a moment’s thought. She instinctively gripped the file tighter and hesitated. "How serious is this condition?"

The investigation results didn't detail the symptoms; it was the first time she had ever seen the name of the disease.

"Without a heart transplant, he won't live for more than a few years. That is another reason why I suggest ending the partnership."

Shi Ningyu fell into a long silence, more lost in thought than she had been before.

"I understand. You don't need to worry about the rest," she said finally.

The woman in the suit nodded slightly and didn't press further; it wasn't within her scope of duty.

"Did you chase away those debt collectors for me?" Shi Ningyu asked.

"Those who have been there recently won't appear again, but not all creditors have visited. If you don't want to pay off your mother's debts and want to solve the problem once and for all, it would be best to look into your mother's whereabouts."

"I won't spend a single cent on that dead woman." Shi Ningyu pushed all the files back to the other side and took a sip of her coffee. "Do you want me to order you a cup? You never mentioned your preference, so I didn't order one ahead of time."

"No need. We're finished here."

Her phone vibrated. Shi Ningyu glanced at the notification and called out to the woman as she stood up to leave: "Mili, one more thing."

"Speak."

"Have you ever heard of the Heartstring Stone?"

...

...

Three in the morning, outside a toy factory on the outskirts of the city.

The magical girl in the white dress hovered above a patch of filth, her head lowered in melancholy. Between the slightly curled fingers of her right hand, a few clumps of exploded flesh drifted.

In front of her lay an open cat-box containing a few unconscious ball-beasts. Behind her, however, lay the corpses of many more, all in various states of ruin.

Heartstring Stone flicked her hand lightly, tossing the floating flesh aside. The blood plasma that had been hovering near her white over-the-knee socks splattered down with a sticky sound.

She stepped forward onto clean ground. The blood-soaked soil behind her surged like boiling water, burying the traces deep beneath.

The patch of grass that had been moved aside earlier returned to its original place, looking almost identical to how it had been before.

All the fragments of the ball-beasts had been separated from the soil, dispersing into a sky full of light particles that reconverged into several crystals. Heartstring Stone caught them in her palm and tossed them toward the cat-box, where they landed perfectly into the side pocket that was left slightly ajar.

She reached out toward the cat-box; it rose a few centimeters before settling back to the ground.

Heartstring Stone turned her face. The factory lights could not reach this far, but by the moonlight, she saw a small figure.

[How many years has it been since I saw you in this form? It really brings back memories.]

The lazy voice of Black Coral echoed in her mind through a spiritual connection.

[I know, I know—don't be angry at me for following you without permission. That video is everywhere; it was hard to pretend I hadn't seen it, and I was worried you'd get into trouble. What made you return to your old ways?]

Heartstring Stone looked away: [It was an accident.]

[And now?] The filthy little teddy bear walked to Heartstring Stone’s side and looked up at her, two loose threads protruding from its missing eyes. [Still can't forget the taste of it, can you?]